Pancake day ideas; raspberry pancake pudding

Pancake Day in the UK, often associated with squeezy lemon juice, was always based upon the thin crepe style pancakes so beloved of our homeland. Recent years have seen a takeover by the American style fluffy pancakes but in my book, you cannot beat the lacy loveliness of a proper crepe.

If pancakes are a regular thing in your house, you may want to switch things up a bit for Pancake Day on the 13th February. Crepe batter is slightly different to your standard pancake batter, as it has melted butter added. It is also always much runnier than one would imagine. We use a stack of crepes, piled into a dish with custard, cream, and raspberries, to create a kind of pancake/lasagne/trifle mash up. It’s pretty good if we do say so ourselves.

Recipe for raspberry pancake pudding

For the crepe batter

120 g plain flour

Pinch of salt

4 eggs, beaten

350ml milk

3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

200g raspberries (we used frozen)

300ml double cream

400g custard

A handful of crushed hazelnuts or flake chocolate

Put the flour, with the salt, in a large mixing bowl.

Add half of the eggs, and half of the milk.

Whisk until you have a smooth thick batter, with no lumps.

Add the rest of the milk, eggs, and all the butter.

Whisk again until smooth. It should be the consistency of single cream.

Heat a non-stick frying pan until smoking hot and wipe with a slick of oil on kitchen roll.

Add ¾ of a ladle of batter and tilt the pan in a circle so the mixture covers the base.

Cook until brown on the underside, flip and cook for a minute or so more.

Cook all the crepes. Roll each one up and set aside until all cooked.

In a suitable dish, layer each pancake with custard and raspberries. Fill the middle and the top with lightly whipped cream.

Garnish with your choice of nuts or chocolate. Or both.

Best devoured on the day you make it, as the pancakes soak up all the moisture and become stodgy. Although that is not always a bad thing…